Whoa. I didn't expect this chapter to be so long. o.o Anyways... Imma rant first. It is so STINKIN' HOT OVER HERE! GAH! }:O And MAN do I hate mosquitos! I got a mosquito bite already on my knee! T^T I curse them all to get cooked up someday and be fed to spiders! Or frogs! Even Ikuto if it's possible! Whatever, I just want them to suffer! DX *ahem* Okay. So, I had to look up and research some things just to make this wedding look a little real. And I just wanna say that everything that is said by the preacher in here is NOT made up by me! It was all totally completely copied from a site because I know so very little about weddings. Just the preacher's preaching part though. u_u
In just a matter of days, Amu's wedding dress was already picked out. Amu's mom had specified the design for it when she was ordering it for her since Amu didn't seem like she cared what it looked like. Amu wanted to look best and have the best things during the wedding with the one she truly loves in the future, which she doesn't know who yet. Definitely not that princely guy though.
So, again, she didn't want to act like this was too serious. Hers and Tadase's "relationship" was going to end up in a divorce anyways. At least until she gets a good job that she's satisfied with... er, make that until the both of them get jobs. Since her wedding dress was already picked out and bought, obviously Tadase-kun's outfit would be ready to go as well and the wedding was now only in a few days.
Amu sighed heavily as she thought about all this when walking out of her room to her car. She decided she was going to go home again after class. She didn't like spending time in her college room that she shared with a roommate anyways. Her roommate who was Mashiro Rima, a rather short girl with outrageously long, stunning, beautiful wavy hair and piercing amber eyes, also didn't seem to like or care for her much. She sometimes glared daggers at Amu whenever she would walk in the room just to get something to study with or to simply do homework while Rima was silently reading her mangas. Amu had noticed most of them were gag mangas too. She didn't understand it herself why this touchy girl would even read such mangas. It didn't seem like... her thing.
A few other things that Amu had also noticed about this girl was that she was also never in the room that much. Sometimes, Amu would even see her getting picked up from school by what may seem like her parents. Although Rima may be a pretty short person for her age, it would seem to Amu that she would be able to drive her own car as well, so why would she need to picked up still anyways? Amu had thought many times that her roommate might be some secretly rich princess. She did have a lot of boys trying to hit on her, but knowing Rima from how long she's stayed with her, she must've always rejected them with cold eyes. But still, she always had boys drooling over her. Ugh.
But as Amu was just about to close the door to her room while Rima was in there doing homework, [which was rare for Amu to see anyways] the small woman called out to her suddenly, surprising Amu, "Wait."
Amu turned around slowly facing her roommate, as if suspecting some kind of sudden attack from Rima. "Yeeah?" she replied cautiously.
"I heard you were getting married," she said plainly.
A mental alram went off in Amu's head. 'How did she know about this?!' she wondered alarmingly. She never remembered telling anyone else about her arranged marriage... unless it was Tadase-kun. Amu mentally shook her head. No, he wouldn't go around telling people about a wedding he wasn't excited for like her. Plus, why would she even care if Amu was getting married or not? That alone, was odd enough. Finally, Amu gathered her thoughts carefully and asked Rima as calmly as possible, "How did you know?"
The quiet yet intimidating young woman simply extended a finger and pointed at a ring on one of the bedside tables. Amu looked and realized that it was her engagement ring. (A/N: No, that is not the same as her wedding ring. u_u) It was a ring given to her parents by Tadase-kun's parents symbolizing her official engagement between Tadase and her. Even though his parents had come to discuss about their wedding with her parents without her or Tadase-kun being there. They had decided everything on their own, disappointing Amu greatly, just like that.
Amu found herself quickly making her way toward the table and swiftly swept the ring up in her hand. It was a pretty small silver ring with a ruby diamond in the middle. It looked rather ancient to Amu. As she turned back to Rima, she found herself hesitating to discuss about her own wedding with her. "W-Well, yeah. Why did you notice?" she asked.
Rima just shrugged, "I found it strange."
Amu was about to fume with anger, taking this in an offensive way. But Rima continued to speak, "You just all of sudden have to marry when you're not done with college yet,... it's an arranged marriage isn't it?"
The pinkette just stared at her as if she was some mysterious spirit lingering in the room. "Um... yeah...," she answered slowly. This was why she never did wear her engagement ring much and only wore it when she was around her parents. She didn't want anyone knowing about her wedding but this woman managed to find out on her own. It made Amu think that she could be some kind of stalker, but she didn't seem like the type. At least, she would like to think so.
"Oh. Okay," Rima simply said and started packing up her papers. Amu just stood there dumbfounded. What was her deal? That was pretty nosy of her roommate. And unusual too. Oh well, looks like her mom's coming to pick her up again. Such over-protective parents, Amu thought. Amu walked out without saying anything more to the girl as she slowly placed the ring around her ring finger.
As she was walking to her car, she was surprised to see a certain man sitting on top of it in front of the windshield. Amu's anger vein appeared and she threw her school bag at him the moment she got there. "What the heck are you doing on my car?! You're really getting on my nerves now, you know that?!" she fumed at the blue haired, cat-like person.
Ikuto slowly jumped off and lifted up Amu's school bag lazily. "I was just waiting for you because...," Amu waited intensely for the explanation as he paused then continued, "I was bored." The anger mark again, appeared on Amu's forehead as she yanked her school bag away from Ikuto angrily.
"Get lost!" she yelled as she opened her car door.
Suddenly, Ikuto grabbed her arm. "Wait. Don't you at least want to know the real reason why I'm here waiting for you this time?"
"I already do know. You don't have a job and a life," she huffed at him as she threw her school bag inside.
Ikuto merely snorted, "We'll see about that. I'm about to leave in a few days."
At this, Amu suddenly got curious. "To where?"
"To Europe and everywhere else around the world. I'm going to join a professional orchestra group and perform for a lot of people with my violin," he paused then smirked. "Once I'm gone, I won't be back much."
Amu pondered a bit but simply turned her back to him to start her car, "Hmph. Good. I don't have a cat to bother me all the time anymore then."
"Aw, come on. Don't be so--" Ikuto abruply stopped mid-sentence, noticing something.
Before Amu could shut her car door as she was in there already, Ikuto stopped her, looking at her with a deeply confused look that she's never seen before. "Your ring... You're getting married?" he asked quietly but clearly shocked.
Amu quickly hid her left hand as if it wasn't too late to hide the truth from this annoying man yet. "Y-Yeah, got a problem?" she asked, feeling ignorant for some reason.
"...Nothing, just shocked that you would ever be engaged with someone..." he answered after what seemed like a whole minute.
"What's that supposed to mean? Ugh! Just leave me alone, it's all I beg for," she said furiously before slamming her car door shut and drove out of sight back home.
Ikuto stood there in the parking lot, carrying his violin, looking like a loner as he stared off after Amu. Who could she be getting married with? Would he be able to find out before it was time for him to leave? He would've never thought the heart of a girl that he's vow to claim as his own one day would have to escape from his hands so fast. Before he could've even realized his real dream. Why is that?
"Amu-chan! Are you done yet?!" Hinamori Midori called for her daughter as she was getting her wedding dress on after her hair had been done.
"Mom! Calm down, it's not like the wedding's starting this minute!" she yelled back irritably. The feeling she had right now was different than what she was expecting. She knew that this marriage was not going to become reality but no matter how she looks at it, she feels nervous about going up front with Tadase-kun in front of so many people. And at this point, she just realized that eventually, her and Tadase have to kiss to show that this wedding is real indeed. 'We didn't even get to practice!' Amu had thought but immediately felt stupid afterwards and mentally slapped herself. 'Calm down, Amu," she told herself as she slowly walked out of the dressing room in front of her mother who was wearing a plain yet pretty magenta-colored dress with a small flower in the top upper right of her shoulder and had also put her hair in her usualy ponytail pulled up in the front.
Her mother smiled as she watched her daughter place her wedding crown on top of her strawberry-milk-colored hair that was put in a small bun, that allowed most of her hair to fall out in front like her bangs, with a white daffodil-like flower placed in it. Amu was wearing a strapless white dress that flowed behind her like a while river. There was a bow in the back that had frilly long ribbons coming out of it at the ends. As Amu looked at her own image in the mirror, she hadn't expected herself to be so pleased with how her dress looked on her. In a sense she kind of felt... happy for some reason. Then again, she mentally slapped herself for feeling such an emotion. But then maybe it was okay just to show her parents that she really was okay with this wedding even though it was arranged.
Finally, Amu was led down the aisle with her father to the wedding preacher who was standing behind a podium and Tadase who was standing just in front of it on top of a lower step.
As the pink-haired bride finally reached her princely groom, her father finally departed from her with tears in his eyes. Amu sweatdropped at her father's childish character. She wasn't expecting him to be this way even on her wedding day. She then turned to look at Tadase through her wedding veil, who was actually smiling at her. Amu blushed unconcsiously and smiled a little back thinking that it was because Tadase's smile was contagious. 'It's okay, Amu, it's just an act. When it's all over, life will be good... life is good," the stubborn bride mentally told herself over and over as her grip on her bouquet of flowers tightened even more. God, she's acting like this is her real wedding. She forced herself to stare at her flowers this time, which were just a bunch of yellow and white daffodils but for some reason it calmed her down when in their presence.
It seemed like a whoe hour had flown by when the preacher was just preaching as Amu and Tadase both stood side by side, having afterthoughts or worrying about something that would happen afterwords. At last, the preacher had come to the most important part and gestured for the ring bearers to come forth with the rings.
As Ami brought up the ring that Tadase had bought for Amu on a satin pillow and another certain blond-haired boy that Amu nor Tadase has never seen before brought up the one Amu bought for Tadase, Amu sucked in a breath silently. She hoped that she didn't obviously look nervous or anything. She usually wasn't afraid of anything big like this once she thought about the situation but she felt like she beginning to lose her cool. She quickly turned to Tadase, looking at his face for any sign of nervousy, wondering if he was feeling the same way. But it seemed impossible. It was almost as if he was wearing some sort of mask that couldn't be seen through.
Amu knew she had to put the ring on Tadase's finger first. She took Tadase's diamond droplet ring and slowly slid it on his ring finger on his left hand after he had lifted it up to her. Phew, she didn't mess up or anything like she thought might've happened. But then again, she was just being paranoid.
Little did she know that Tadase was staring at her curiously as well like she did before. For some reason, he could feel some kind of happiness fluttering in his heart. Was that supposed to happen even when you know you're just marrying someone on the outside? Maybe, it's because of the thought of making his parents happy by marrying Hinamori-san? Tadase shook the thought out of his head then started to pick up the four-leaved-clover ring and waited for Amu to lift up her gloved left hand. She did just that as Tadase held her hand while he slowly placed the ring on her ring finger. She never did notice how beautiful the ring actually looked when she first picked it out randomly. It was like, she just chose the best things for a fake wedding. But for some reason, she didn't feel like that. Her eyes sparkled without her knowing and she even had that faint pink color of a blush starting to appear on her cheeks, even though she wasn't exactly smiling at the moment, as she watched the ring slide all the way on her ring finger.
The preacher then continued to the questions and turned to Amu first, "Do you come to this marriage freely and of your own choosing?"
Amu replied with a firm "I do" as did Tadase when he was asked the same question. After another small speech that seemed worthless to Amu, the preacher then asked another questiont to the both of them one at a time, turning to Amu first again, "Do you promise to become the guardian of Hotori Tadase's solitude?"
The pink-haired bride almost hesitated to answering to that but she knew what to say and replied with another "I do" while staring intensely at Tadase, while thinking in her mind, 'I'm sorry that can't happen....' She then started wondering what all this vowing was for if couples could just divorce anyways. Soon the same was asked to Tadase as well except with Amu's name in place this time and Tadase replied almost bluntly the same as Amu did.
After another small speech, the preacher finally said to both the bride and groom after what seemed like hours of just standing there in front of everyone that attended their 'fake' wedding, "I pronounce that you are now husband and wife. You may seal your vows with a kiss."
Amu continued to look at Tadase, hoping that he would just make the move first and then she'd play along. Well scratch that. Of course the groom would have to make the first move. Tadase reached out his hands to remove the veil and move it to the back from covering Amu's face. Tadase took in a deep breath before slowly leaning in for his, surprisingly, first kiss. Little did he know that it was also Amu's as he quickly locked his lips with hers while the crowd started cheering and clapping crazily. Amu's eyes lifted in surprise, as if she never expected the kiss even though she did and blushed furiously for the first time since she remembered in a long time for whatever it was. Tadase pulled back quickly looking out to the crowd, feeling rather foolish and linked arms with Amu as they continued to make their final exit. More like their escape.
Sigh. Ikuto slowly got up from a chair in an airport as his flight number had just been announced to be taking off very soon. As he walked by a few huge windows, getting closer to the gate, he peered out longingly already as if he would never see someone he thought very precious to him anymore. Which he probably won't if he decides to never come back. 'It's too bad... she failed to notice my feelings were true,' he thought before he gave his plane ticket to the flight manager (A/N: I am so guessing at these things...^^;) and continued to board his plane.
Ya know, I've been thinking, people ban the charas out of their stories too much.(including me) O_O Eh, guess it'll be fine without 'em. I still think this chapter is sort of... "eh." Like I rushed it too much or something. =_=
Added note: Oh yeah, here's something I just wanted to give you people to think about now. What do you think it meant when Rima suddenly asked about Amu's wedding like that? I just wanna see your thoughts :3
BTW, I have a fanart of Tadase and Amu's wedding drawn! [Sadly, I didn't draw the kiss, I'm bad at those...-.-] Come check at my profile sometime to see it when I finally get it up if you want. ^.^ There will be a site if it won't show up. XD